Journal entry by Al Negstad — a minute ago
Manchester is no more!
When Thomas Isern, titled a chapter in his book, from which I quoted yesterday, 'I am the resurrection and the life' I wondered if he'd strayed into South Dakota. Harvey Dunn, 1884-1952, a contemporary of my father Albert Negstad. 1883-1969, living about 35, miles apart, has a painting by that title. Dunn is perhaps best known for his painting of a pioneer woman picking prairie flowers. The painting came to be called "The Prairie is My Garden," though that's not what Dunn called it.
Dunn was a prolific painter of scenes of prairie scenes and settlers. Six of his prints adorn the walls of my condo and more are in my 'little house on the prairie.' He left a successful career as a magazine illustrator when he was sent by the U.S. Government in 1918, to Europe, to illustrate scenes of the First World War. Dunn gave his paintings to the State of South Dakota and they are housed in a special gallery building on the campus of South Dakota State University, Brookings, where Dunn received his first formal art education. This gallery is well worth a visit.
Manchester, S.D., is no more. It was destroyed by a category F-4, tornado June 24, 2003. Google 'Manchester, S.D.' and you can see a remarkable video of the storm recorded by storm chasers. Harvey Dunn was born on a farm 3, miles south and a mile east of Manchester, which was the next train stop west of DeSmet. Papa Ingalls, filed on a homestead claim in DeSmet, Kingsbury County the winter of 1879-80, so, Laura Ingalls-Wilder and Dunn were contemporary neighbors.
Sometime during my stay in Mohall, N.D., I presided at a funeral in which the deceased man was buried at the Greene, N.D., cemetery. Greene is a tiny village next to the Mouse River in Renville County. (A little discursus here: Called the Souris River in Canada it enters N.D., from Saskatchewan, runs south to Minot, which it has been known to flood, then turns northeast and enters Manitoba where it is again called the Souris: souris is French for mouse.) The river lies deep in a valley with high bluffs on either side and on the eastern hill is the Greene Cemetery.
The deceased was quite poor and the family could not afford a burial vault...this, too, is a discursus. At the conclusion of the committal service the family left the cemetery. Two ropes were strung under the simple casket and the funeral home personnel and I lowered it into the grave.
But the point is that this cemetery has a remarkable resemblance to Dunn's painting, which is called "I am the resurrection and the life." It pictures mourners by an open grave while horses and wagons wait outside the fence. Dunn once said "...take the subject of man in despair. Let the sky be lowering, weeping in sympathy, the hill will be bleak and barren, and the shrubbery and trees bending with the same grief. This is a mood..." This is a good description of the painting, a print of which graces my wall.
Takk for alt,
Al
The pictures are photographs of the aforementioned painting: the black and white is from a biography of Dunn and the colored one of a print that hangs in my condo. If you'd like to visit my Dunn, mini-gallery, you're welcome. The price of admission a hot-dish (casserole) for my dinner. 😋
When Thomas Isern, titled a chapter in his book, from which I quoted yesterday, 'I am the resurrection and the life' I wondered if he'd strayed into South Dakota. Harvey Dunn, 1884-1952, a contemporary of my father Albert Negstad. 1883-1969, living about 35, miles apart, has a painting by that title. Dunn is perhaps best known for his painting of a pioneer woman picking prairie flowers. The painting came to be called "The Prairie is My Garden," though that's not what Dunn called it.
Dunn was a prolific painter of scenes of prairie scenes and settlers. Six of his prints adorn the walls of my condo and more are in my 'little house on the prairie.' He left a successful career as a magazine illustrator when he was sent by the U.S. Government in 1918, to Europe, to illustrate scenes of the First World War. Dunn gave his paintings to the State of South Dakota and they are housed in a special gallery building on the campus of South Dakota State University, Brookings, where Dunn received his first formal art education. This gallery is well worth a visit.
Manchester, S.D., is no more. It was destroyed by a category F-4, tornado June 24, 2003. Google 'Manchester, S.D.' and you can see a remarkable video of the storm recorded by storm chasers. Harvey Dunn was born on a farm 3, miles south and a mile east of Manchester, which was the next train stop west of DeSmet. Papa Ingalls, filed on a homestead claim in DeSmet, Kingsbury County the winter of 1879-80, so, Laura Ingalls-Wilder and Dunn were contemporary neighbors.
Sometime during my stay in Mohall, N.D., I presided at a funeral in which the deceased man was buried at the Greene, N.D., cemetery. Greene is a tiny village next to the Mouse River in Renville County. (A little discursus here: Called the Souris River in Canada it enters N.D., from Saskatchewan, runs south to Minot, which it has been known to flood, then turns northeast and enters Manitoba where it is again called the Souris: souris is French for mouse.) The river lies deep in a valley with high bluffs on either side and on the eastern hill is the Greene Cemetery.
The deceased was quite poor and the family could not afford a burial vault...this, too, is a discursus. At the conclusion of the committal service the family left the cemetery. Two ropes were strung under the simple casket and the funeral home personnel and I lowered it into the grave.
But the point is that this cemetery has a remarkable resemblance to Dunn's painting, which is called "I am the resurrection and the life." It pictures mourners by an open grave while horses and wagons wait outside the fence. Dunn once said "...take the subject of man in despair. Let the sky be lowering, weeping in sympathy, the hill will be bleak and barren, and the shrubbery and trees bending with the same grief. This is a mood..." This is a good description of the painting, a print of which graces my wall.
Takk for alt,
Al
The pictures are photographs of the aforementioned painting: the black and white is from a biography of Dunn and the colored one of a print that hangs in my condo. If you'd like to visit my Dunn, mini-gallery, you're welcome. The price of admission a hot-dish (casserole) for my dinner. 😋
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